SAME WORDS: DIFFERENT MEANINGS! (pronunciation AND definition changes!)

- Hello, lovely students, and welcome back

to English with Lucy.

Today I've got a really interesting lesson for you.

We're going to talk about words that sound the same

but have different meanings.

And there are two categories here.

We have homonyms and homographs.

Homonyms are words that are spelt and pronounced the same

but they have different meanings like bark,

for example, and also fly.

Homographs are words that are spelt the same

but they are pronounced in a different way

and of course they have different meanings.

For example, desert and desert.

Before we get started I'd like to remind you that as always

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Right, let's get started with the lesson.

Okay, so I mentioned we're going to be talking about

homonyms and homographs, let's start by looking at homonyms.

I'll talk about 10 really common ones.

Remember they are spelled and pronounced in the same way

they just have have different meanings,

same words, different meanings.

Firstly, we have bark, bark.

Bark means the hard covering of a tree.

You know, it's that layer you can normally peel off.

For example, the oak tree has brown bark.

The second meaning of bark is the noise that a dog makes,

you know that loud noise.

Do you want me to do it for you? (barks)

That sounded a bit more like a cat.

You know what I mean?

A dog's bark, it can also be the verb to bark.

The dog barked at the cat.

The dog's bark was loud.

It can also be used to talk about humans

if they say something abruptly or aggressively.

Stop barking at me, God, you're talking so aggressively.

It can be quite insulting to insinuate that someone

is barking at you like a dog.

Onto the next one we have number two, which is fine, fine.

You probably know the most common meaning of this word

which is to say you are okay.

How are you?

I'm fine, thanks.

But did you know that fine also means the amount of money

that you have to pay when you break the law, a fine.

I got a 50 pound fine for speeding.

So we have fine as in good or okay.

And fine as in money you pay when you break the law.

Number three is bat, bat.

A bat is both an animal and something that we use in sport.

As an animal a bat is a little mammal, a little bit like

a mouse but with leathery wings that flies at night.

They're usually associated with Halloween.

I'm scared of bats, apparently they suck blood.

In sport a bat is usually a wooden object that we use

to hit a ball in certain games like cricket and baseball.

An example, we can't start playing until we find the bat.

You know from context that we're we're talking about

the wooden bat not the animal bat.

Next we have number four, which is kind, kind.

As an adjective kind means nice and helpful and caring.

She is a kind person.

As a noun kind means type, a kind of thing, a type of thing.

What kind of fuel should I use in this car?

What type of fuel should I use in this car?

Number five is spring, spring.

Our first meaning is the season that comes

between winter and summer.

The season when there are lambs everywhere,

the flowers come up, the leaves appear on the trees.

It's my favourite season.

An example, in the UK spring is from March until May.

Another meaning of spring is a place where water

naturally comes up from the ground.

I love drinking natural spring water.

My dog loves playing in the local spring.

We have a third meaning as well.

A spring can be a metal coil like the ones that you find

in a mattress or in a trampoline.

An example, don't jump on the bed, you'll damage

the springs in the mattress.

Number six is match, match.

A match can be a game that's played in sports

like a cricket match, a football match, a hockey match.

An example, are you going to watch the match on TV later?

A match can also be a little wooden stick

with a chemical at one end that we use to burn things.

So we use a match to light a candle.

An example, I need some matches to light these candles.

When a bird, a plane, or an insect moves through the sky,

we say that it flies.

To fly can also mean to travel by plane.

I'm flying to Abu Dhabi next week.

A fly can also mean an insect with wings.

An example, there are lots of flies on the meat.

So we have fly as verb and fly as a noun.

Our next one, number eight is one

that often confuses my students.

It is mean, mean.

When something means something it expresses something.

What does this word mean in English?

However, it can also be used as an objective.

It has a negative meaning.

If someone is mean, it means they are cruel or unkind.

An example, he told me I didn't look nice today.

It was very mean.

It was cruel and unkind of him.

Stop being so mean, stop being so unkind.

We have number nine which is stalk, stalk.

I know that all sound can be quite hard for some students.

Stalk, we don't pronounce the L there.

One meaning is the stem, the long part of a flower,

the long green part, the part that separates

the roots from the head.

I need to cut the stalks of these roses

before I put them in a vase.

We can also use stalk as a verb.

If you stalk someone, it means you follow them illegally

without being seen.

The man will stalking her for a month

before the police caught him.

Finally, our last homonym, before we move on

to the homographs, is train, train.

A train is a railway vehicle with carriages.

I love travelling by train.

Train as a verb can mean to practise for something.

to prepare yourself for by learning and working hard.

I'm training for a marathon at the moment.

Okay that's it for the homonyms,

let's move on to the homographs.

These are words that are spelt in the same way

but they are pronounced differently

and of course they have different meanings.

I find these particularly interesting.

The pronunciation differences can be quite subtle

so I'll say them clearly as possible.

so you can try to hear those differences.

I'll also put the phonetic transcriptions up on the screen

for you to see the differences too.

Firstly, we are looking at desert and desert.

Desert and desert.

Look at where I'm putting the focus on that word,

dessert, distress.

The meaning of a desert is a large area

where not much grows.

We typically think of it as a sandy area

although it can be snowy.

It's just a place where there isn't much life.

I'd love to visit the Sahara Desert one day.

To desert can also be used as a verb.

The syllable stress changes.

Desert as a noun, desert as a verb.

To desert means to leave someone

often in a difficult situation.

She deserted her husband,

she left him in a difficult situation.

Next we have tear and tear, tear and tear.

I know both of these vowel sounds are really hard

for some of you.

Air, ear, air, ear.

To tear means to pull something apart

so that it separates into pieces.

Don't tear that piece of paper, it's important.

A tear on the other hand is a drop of water or liquid

that comes from your eye when you cry, tear.

He had tears in his eye when he spoke about his cat.

For number three we have bow and bow, bow and bow, ow, oh.

To bow means to bend forward from the hips

to show respect to someone.

It's common to bow to people in Japan.

A bow is a weapon made of curved wood

and you shoot arrows with it.

A bow is also a ribbon that you wear in your hair

or on your neck, a bow tie.

An example, people used to fight with bow and arrows

or I wore a bow in my hair to the wedding.

Next we have number four, row and row, row and row.

A row is an argument.

It often involves shouting.

I had a row with my husband about the washing up

so we bought a dishwasher.

A row, O, is a line of things next to each other.

I sat in the front row so I could see the screen better.

Next, we have two words that do sound very similar.

Let's see if you can hear the difference.

Overlook and overlook, overlook, overlook.

The syllable stress changes.

If you overlook something it means that you miss

an important detail.

You overlooked a very important factor, the price.

Another meaning is a place that gives a good view

of something from above, an overlook.

We stopped at an overlook for a great view

of the Grand Canyon.

For number six, we have wind and wind, wind, and wind.

Wind is the type of weather that blows at you when air

blows at you and you can feel it.

The wind was really strong today.

The second word, the verb to wind is a verb

meaning to turn something.

I have an old fashioned watch that I need to wind

every morning, I need to turn the knob on it.

I need to wind it up.

Continuing on from wind we have number seven,

wound and wound, wound and wound, ow, oo,

ow, oo, wound, wound.

Wound is the past tense of the verb wind.

I wound the wool up into a ball.

Wound is an injury or to injure.

It's usually an injury that you get

from violence or from war.

He wounded his leg in the war.

He had a terrible wound on his leg.

Next we have record and record, record, record.

This is part of a noun-verb pair.

As a verb to record means to make an electronic copy

of images or sounds.

My favourite band just recorded a new song.

As a noun, the stress changes, a record,

change to the first syllable.

It means information that is kept about something

or a piece of music that has been recorded.

We made a record of all the day's events.

For number nine we have entrance and entrance,

entrance and entrance.

The first meaning, entrance, is the place where

you enter somewhere like a gate or a door.

The entrance is around the side.

To entrance, if something entrances you, it means

it's so beautiful or interesting that you give it

all of your attention.

Her singing completely entranced me.

Finally, the last pair we have present and present.

Present and present, it's that changed

syllable stress again.

The noun present means a gift,

something that you give to someone.

Thank you for my birthday present.

The verb, to present, means to give something

in a formal way.

It could be an item like an award, it could be a speech.

They presented him with a certificate.

Present, present.

Right, that is it for today's lesson.

I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you learnt something.

Don't forget to download the free PDF that goes

with this video, it's got everything you've learnt today,

with all the transcriptions and examples,

plus some extra exercises so you can put

what you've learned into practise.

Also remember that we are running our special promotion

on the ultimate vocabulary course, you will learn

over 600 idioms, collocations and phrasal verbs,

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I will see you soon for another lesson.

Number three is, yes, what's number three, what am...

In certain games like cricket and baseball,

cricket and baseball (barks) unless you were participating

in bat racing or something.

God, I'm funny today aren't I, my God, what a joke.

I am going to be done, fly, we can use it as a bird,

as a bird, we can also use stalk as a vowel.

Hello, is that my dogie?

He can't get through, poor Diego.

Finally the past per, sorry, finally,

plus some extra extra active, ha, okay,

I'm gonna go listen to some jazz.

I'm really excited.

Do I need to do anything?

No, I think that's it, bye (laughs)